In this educational seminar, Dr. Suzanne D. Vernon speaks about the Bateman Horne Center’s quest to bring precision medicine to ME/CFS and Fibromyalgia.
What is precision medicine and why do we need it? Precision medicine is an approach that takes into account individual variability in genes, environment, and lifestyle for each person. The goal of precision medicine is to (re)define disease onset and progression, response to treatment, and health outcomes. How do we get there? With biomarkers that determine disease type and measures that detect responses to treatment.
Precision Medicine for ME/CFS & Fibromyalgia
Presented by Suzanne D. Vernon, PhD
Dr. Vernon has her master’s degree in Microbiology from Colorado State University and her doctorate degree in Virology from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She has co-authored 100 scientific papers and dedicated the past 20 years of her professional research career on identifying biomarkers and causes of ME/CFS.
Her career is highlighted by a number of “firsts”. As a team lead member of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s CFS research group, Vernon conceived and organized a BIG DATA computational challenge. She recruited an eclectic team of molecular biologists and computational biologists to merge data collected in laboratory, clinical and epidemiology studies with the goal of identifying biomarkers to objectively define ME/CFS. Suzanne “built” the Research Institute Without Walls (RIWW), the first nonprofit patient-centered research initiative focused on identifying diagnostic biomarkers and disease-modifying treatment for ME/CFS. The RIWW attracted some of the brightest investigators from the best institutions into ME/CFS research.
Suzanne brings several of her connections and collaborations with her to the Bateman Horne Center where she is building a research program focused on identifying biomarkers, developing diagnostic tests, and uncovering evidence-based treatments for ME/CFS.
Download a copy of the presentation slides: Vernon_Precision_Medicine_05042016
Watch the recording:
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The Bateman Horne Center holds monthly education meetings on the first Wednesday of each month. Patients in the Salt Lake City area are invited to attend in person, and the sessions are broadcast via YouTube live stream, making them available to all. After the education meeting takes place, all recordings are archived here on the BHC blog and on the BHC YouTube channel.
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Lucinda Bateman, MD, is a renowned clinician, researcher, and educator. Her Johns Hopkins University Medical School training instilled an approach to care that she has employed throughout her career - the patient comes first and the unknown or unexplained does not equate to a lack of proper and compassionate care. Since starting her own practice in 2000, she has served on six boards or committees, been the principal investigator for 45 studies, authored/coauthored 40 journal articles, served as adjunct instructor and adjunct assistant professor in the University of Utah Departments of Preventative Medicine, Internal Medicine, and Anesthesiology, and lectured around the world.